Though her children may have been too young to remember, Agatha Lopez made sure she had proof of the stories she tells about building their home. Inside a photo album, often kept stored away, is the documentation of their home’s journey from a hope into reality. From the floor plan to the foundation, the walls to the roof and every person who lent a hand: It’s all there.

While Lopez doesn’t think that her children fully understand how difficult the process was, she believes they do understand how fortunate they are to have the house.

“Any free time that I got I spent here just trying to get (the house) done for my kids,” said Lopez. “That was the most important thing. If I didn’t have kids I wouldn’t be here.”

The home, coming up on its fifth anniversary in November, did not come easily for Lopez and her children. When she first applied to Habitat for Humanity, Lopez was in the process of getting a divorce and was living with her father. The time just wasn’t right.

“They told me that in order for me to be eligible I had to get a divorce because if they were to choose me, everything that I worked hard for would be his too,” said Lopez. Not to be discouraged, she set her sights on the next year’s application period.

Officially divorced, Lopez was confident her application would go be chosen this time, but the single mother hit another road block — she didn’t make the income requirements.

“I had just decided that it wasn’t meant to be,” said Lopez. “I applied two times, I did everything that I had to do, it (wasn’t) meant to be. I just continued going to school and working and taking care of my kids, doing the best that I could.”

Lopez returned to her routine of working the graveyard shift, getting her kids to school, attending Midland College part-time for her basics, catching two hours of sleep before picking up her kids, feeding them dinner and repeating the cycle.

“That took a toll on me,” said Lopez. “When it came to my classes it was hard for me to focus at school because I was worried about who was going to pick up my kids from school, are they eating, who’s going to take care of them, who’s going to help them with their homework.”

Exhausted and less than optimistic, Lopez recalled being hesitant to apply a third time for a Habitat home.

“I just prayed about it and said you know what God, if this is in your plans for me and if it’s meant to be — you know they say third time is the charm,” said Lopez. “So I decided to try one more time, and if I didn’t get it, you know what, someone else deserved it more than I did.”

When the letter arrived, Lopez said she could barely believe she had finally been chosen. To make it even sweeter, just days later she received notice she had been chosen for a scholarship that, after a year-long trial period, would assist her all the way through receiving her bachelor’ degree.

“When I got my house, my kids were doing better in school (and) I was doing better in school,” said Lopez. “I got president’s list, dean’s list, so it makes an impact on everybody. It changes your attitude, your focus, it gives you hope to believe that anything is possible. And I think that it did that for all of us.”

After everything she has been through and the help she has received, Lopez said she is ready to give back in any way she can. While her career goals have changed a few times, finally landing on becoming a teacher, there has been one common factor: service.

Initially shifting from nursing to criminal justice, Lopez said somewhere along the way “I started working with kids, I started tutoring and I got involved with AmeriCorps and I stayed with them for like two years.”

The experience stuck with Lopez, drawing her to pursue teaching as her outlet for helping others.

“At first it was from being in criminal justice wanting to help these people that are already in the system change their lives so that they don’t go back into the system,” said Lopez. “When it changed to wanting to be a teacher, I was like, you know what, I can actually keep these kids from getting into the system. That’s the way that I look at it.”

Lopez earned her associate degree in 2012 and will be receiving her bachelor’s degree this December after she completes a fall internship student teaching at Milam Elementary. After that, she hopes to get to work as soon as possible.

Even as she looks excitedly toward the future, Lopez hasn’t forgotten the people who helped her when she needed it.

“I think that my favorite memories are from any time they had a group come out,” Lopez said of the construction of her home. “I liked being here just to see that there are good people out there. For them to come out and help with my house — or not just my house but (anyone) else’s house — I think those are memories that I’m always going to remember.”

Even when payments are due at the Habitat office, Lopez makes it a point to stop in, say hello and see how everyone is doing. On Nov. 19, her “house anniversary,” Lopez said she always brings the office “a fruit basket or chocolates or cookies and a thank you card every year since I got my house.”

While she has been too busy to lend her time, Lopez said she hopes to one day give back to the organization that made such an impact on her life, whether it be through volunteer work or monetary contributions.

“I always say that if one day I become really successful, have lots of money or win the lotto, I’m definitely going to take care of my family but I would like to sponsor a Habitat home for another family,” said Lopez. “It has changed my life and my kids’ lives and I would like to be able to do that for somebody else.”

The most important part of her life, however, remains her children and providing the best life she possibly can for them.

“(The house) has given me hope because I was going through so much before I got my house, I felt like a failure to my kids,” said Lopez. “Once I got my house I was proud of myself, so I figured that if I’m proud of myself that my kids could be proud of me.”

With her oldest beginning high school this fall, Lopez is as focused as ever on the impression she leaves on her children and how she prepares them for the future.

“Now that they have a foundation, I just want to keep them going in the right direction,” said Lopez. “All I can do is set a good example for them.”